storytime
by I love music
Summary: COMPLETE STORY Based on a real life twilight zone experience
1. Default Chapter

A couple of years ago I sat alone at my computer working on a story. I was a bit stuck so decided to shut down and watch some TV. But the computer had othe ideas. Over and over I clicked Exit and Save and Shut Down but all that happened was a blank grey screen. Finally that blank grey screen cleared and revealed my story again - and half a dozen lines of conversation had been added! They were my characters, my story, but they were not my words. I've written several stories since without any more spooky experiences. It remains a mystery who helped tell my story...this is just one theory from the twilight zone...  
  
CHAPTER 1  
  
Moonlight creeps uncertainly into a dark back room, its floor strewn with children's toys, an exercise bike, abandoned school bag and trainers, children's drawings and several loose coloured pencils. A thin, intense-looking man in his early thirties sits hunched over a computer. He clasps his hands behind his neck and stretches, squinting at the carriage clock ticking loudly towards midnight on the mantelshelf of the unlit fireplace. He types a couple more lines and stares unhappily at the computer screen.  
  
Unseen by the man, Rod Serling, leaning on the chair, turns to the viewer and speaks:   
  
"The writer's life is a solitary one. Sitting for hours alone, reaching and reaching into the depths of imagination, to something intangible burning deep in the soul. Like Tom Clayton, children's author, burning the midnight oil to feed that hunger to write... but he's about to go into a story stranger than one he could ever have dreamt of ... (music) You're travelling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but also of the mind. A wondrous land whose boundaries are that of the imagination. A signpost up ahead, your next stop, The Twilight Zone!"   
  
Tom Clayton re-checks the clock and, sighing, decides to stop work. He clicks the compuer into 'shut down' mode and the screen fades to black and a 'safe to shut down' message except for a strange dot of bright light that dances erratically around the screen. Startled, he removes his glasses and rubs his eyes vigorously and when he looks up again the light is gone. Still obviously puzzled, Tom switches off the computer and draws the curtains. As he closes the door to the shadowy room we see someone else sitting in the recently vacated chair. A woman, dressed all grey, her long black hair tied back, sits with her back to us.  
  
*****  
  
We see the woman more clearly. Her face is very pale and her old-fashioned, grey shapeless dress touches the ground. She stands in a barren, fog-shrouded land where a cold wind wails. Her voice carries a haunting echo.  
  
"I am Katherine! I came to tell you outside is beautiful. I've seen children playing. I've seen sunset and moonlight. I've felt a breeze on my face and heard the birdsong and know the scent of flowers. It's so beautiful. Please! Can anyone hear me?"  
  
We can make out misty grey shapes in the distance and know that they are the shapes of men, women and children but that is all we know. Their voices are the sounds of a distant crowd but no words are distinct.  
  
KATHERINE: Can ANYONE hear me?  
  
The grey shapes become totally obscured by the thickening fog and the indistinct sound of the crowd fades to silence. Katherine stands alone.  
  
KATHERINE: Can ANYONE hear me?  
  
*****  
  
THE CLAYTONS BEDROOM. 2.30am  
  
TOM (Half waking from a dream): Can ANYONE hear me? Can ANYONE...  
  
MELANIE (Shaking him): Tom! Wake up! Wake up!  
  
TOM: Omigod...! (His face is wet with tears and he wipes them emotionally) Was I screaming again? Did I wake the kids?  
  
MELANIE: No, no, Sophie and Rowan are fine, there isn't a sound from them. It was the same nightmare, wasn't it?  
  
TOM: They're becoming more and more vivid, Mel. This time she was surrounded by shadows, like dead people, watching. It was so cold on that planet! I could have..."  
  
MEL: Planet?  
  
TOM: What?  
  
MEL: Tom, this Katherine thing is freaking me out. You said you were on a planet...  
  
TOM: I don't know what it was, why she haunts me, what she is...(shaking himself) Babe, are we really having this conversation? For Chrissake, I don't believe in life on other planets! What the hell is happening to me?  
  
MEL (trying to reassure herself as well): Nothing is happening to you, to us. You had a bad dream.  
  
TOM: I KEEP having the same bad dream!  
  
MEL: You're working too hard on your writing, that's all.  
  
TOM: What writing? I can't hack it any more, Mel, I'm cracking up. I can't write, can't even think of any more bedtime stories to tell the kids and, hell, I'm meant to be a children's author. Jesus, why do I keep dreaming of this Katherine? Why is she haunting me? (he gives an ironic, self-mocking but despairing laugh as he lies down again, throwing his head back hard against the pillow) I've totally lost the plot!  
  
*****  
  
On the lonely planet, as thick snowflakes swirl through the howling wind, Katherine walks bewildered through the mist. Now and again she comes to a figure and touches it, calling it by name...   
  
"Edgar...? Annabel...? David...?"   
  
...but each crumbles to dust at her touch.  
  
There is the shape of a mother, frozen in time as she raised her baby high in her arms in play. Katherine gently takes the grey figure of the child and at first there is a baby's vague cry but then the infant too crumbles into nothingness. Katherine's solitary voice echoes:   
  
"Alone...Alone......Alone..." 


	2. Chapter 2

***CHAPTER 2***  
  
CHILDREN'S BEDROOM. 9.00 pm  
  
Sophie, a fair-haired little girl of seven, is sitting up in bed, the red night light glowing pink on her expectant face. In the moonlight that steals through the brightly patterened curtains, Rowan, a chubby child of three, is crouching on the floor, amidst the chaos of Lego, dolls furniture and toy groceries, "crawling" a large plastic spider round a dolls' house, muttering to herself:..  
  
ROWAN: ...then along here and down there..."  
  
SOPHIE: You've had it, Rowan, when Mummy and Daddy see that mess. You've had it when they see you're not in bed. It's like Christmas. She won't come if you're not good.  
  
Rowan gives her a scathing look and returns to her game, jabbering away as she moves the spider in and out of dolls house...  
  
ROWAN: ...and round and round and that way and that way...  
  
There is a peculiar high-pitched buzzing and both girls look to the centre of the room. Katherine appears, snowflakes falling off her clothes and snow still melting in her hair, her breath like icy blue smoke.  
  
SOPHIE (smiling): Hullo, Katherine! We've been waiting a LONG time.  
  
Katherine returns the smile. In the warmth of the bedroom some colour returns to her face and the grey of her dress slowly turns silver. Her movements are jerky to begin with and she walks woodenly over to Sophie, sits down awkwardly and strokes the little girl's hair.  
  
KATHERINE: Hello. You must be Sophie.  
  
SOPHIE (nodding): I knew you'd come and see us. I just KNEW!  
  
ROWAN (reaching up to Katherine): And me, and me!  
  
KATHERINE (placing the toddler on her lap): And so you're Rowan! (laughs at the plastic spider Rowan is carefully clutching) And who's this?  
  
ROWAN (happily): It 'pider!  
  
SOPHIE (condescendingly): She always takes him to bed with her. Barbie's loads better! Katherine, you can do magic, can't you?  
  
KATHERINE: Of course! (she folds each empty hand into a fist and opens them to reveal a bar of chocolate in each)  
  
ROWAN (laughing and rocking herself in delight): Again! Again!  
  
KATHERINE (tickling Rowan's face): Perhaps tomorrow. It's time for your story now. Once upon a time there was a beautiful but lonely planet where nobody at all had ever lived until one day...  
  
Fade to shadows.  
  
*****  
  
We see Katherine totally transformed. Her dress is emerald green, her long black hair shining and her skin glowing. It is a beautiful sunny day and crowds of laughing, chatting people head towards a funfair. There is an overwhelming feeling of brightness, in the colour of their clothes, which are the styles of the early twentieth century, in the unidentifiable flowers and trees, and in the peculiar light green, cloudless sky. Katherine sits on a sea wall, the turquoise sea behind her sparkling, boats sailing past and screeching seagulls circling the waters. She waves to the man she has been waiting for and they kiss tenderly.  
  
KATHERINE (laughing): I can't believe it! Look at it all! How did it happen?  
  
MAN: Nobody knows! They say it might not last forever and we should make the most of it.  
  
KATHERINE (sadly): It could disappear again any time?  
  
MAN: You know it always does. It never lasts. But don't be sad today. Today is perfect.  
  
The young couple head towards a park where people picnic and sunbathe under rainbow-coloured trees. Flowers adorn everywhere while in the background swans glide gracefully on a pond. The couple sit slowly on the grass, watching the swans, listening to some children playing nearby. They are smiling but there is a strange aura of sadness about them.   
  
*****  
  
LIVING ROOM. LATE EVENING.  
  
Interrupted on a dinner date and still in evening wear, Tom and Melanie talk with Kelly, a pretty girl in her early teens, who is very distressed. In their identical Winnie the Pooh pyjamas and slippers, Sophie and Rowan sit unnaturally quietly on the settee, looking very guilty, clutching each other's hands. Rowan is sucking one of the legs of the plastic spider.   
  
  
  
KELLY: I'm sooo s-sorry I had to call you home but...but it...it's witchcraft!  
  
TOM: Hey, hey, calm down, Kelly, it's okay. What happened?  
  
KELLY: I put them to bed at half past eight like you said and next thing I knew they were FLYING!  
  
TOM (amused): What?  
  
KELLY: I'm telling you the truth, Mr Clayton. They flew down the stairs!  
  
MEL (turning to her kids): You've been playing jumping downstairs again? I told you to be good for Kelly!  
  
Sophie's lips tremble and her eyes dim with tears. Rowan begins to cry loudly. Melanie sits on the settee inbetwen her daughters and cuddles them both.  
  
KELLY (hysterically): They weren't jumping, they were FLYING! And when they got to the bottom they got...they got...like, all their cuddly toys just appeared out of nowhere, except they were real, the toy dogs were running and barking and the toy cat was drinking a saucer of milk and the teddy bears walking and that...that toy spider thing was really crawling up the wall...  
  
Tom and Melanie stifle laughter. Kelly has reached the peak of her hysteria while Sophie and Rowan pitch in with hysterical tears themselves.  
  
MEL: Kels, you probably just fell asleep...  
  
KELLY: No, I didn't, I SAW it!  
  
TOM: Calm down, Kel, it's okay. Look, I'll see you home.  
  
KELLY: Mr Clayton, I haven't moved house since I've been babysitting, I STILL only live next door.  
  
TOM: But you're upset. I want to make sure you're alright. Look, here's something extra for all your trouble tonight.  
  
Kelly hesitates for only a fraction of a second before snatching the cash. She picks up her bag and magazine.  
  
KELLY: I will be absolutely fine once I'm out of here!  
  
Tom walks Kelly to the door.  
  
TOM (from the doorway): Thanks for minding the kids, Kel!  
  
Kelly gives him a look of contempt as she hammers frantically on her front door. Suddenly she shivers and looks upwards. At an upstairs window in Tom's house Katherine, pale and grey, watches. Terrified, Kelly runs into her own house like a bat out of hell.  
  
Tom returns to his wife and kids and he and Melanie exchange an amused look.   
  
TOM: Teddy bears walking! Plastic spiders crawling up a wall!  
  
MEL: You know, it was worth missing our night out for this. We've needed a good laugh for ages. Good old Kelly and her mad dreams!  
  
Rowan and Sophie have begun fighting.  
  
SOPHIE (trying to aim a kick back at Rowan, who's hiding behind her Mum): She kicked me! She kicked me!  
  
TOM: You know, I think we're getting back to normal!  
  
*****  
  
Katherine and her sweetheart hold each other close as a strong wind screams all around, tearing leaves from trees. Colours fade like diluting paint, merging into a red-yellow mess and then into nothingness. People move in slow motion until they stop altogether and become grey shapes as the land ices over. An invisible force pulls a now grey Katherine away from her sweetheart.   
  
There is silence except for the desolate wind.  
  
*****  
  
Tom sits at his computer. The white screen is blank. He types a word or two, but deletes immediately, unhappy with his work. He begins pacing despairingly round the back room, pausing every now and again to gaze through the window at the back garden and twinkling night time stars. On his last journey the moon breaks free from a cloud and he's startled to see, for a second or two, the outline of a woman in a long grey dress, who's gazing upwards at the house. The clouds quickly obscure the moon again and when it next shines brightly the figure has vanished. Tom takes a half full bottle of whiskey out of a kitchen cupboard. Hand trembling, he pours himself a drink, which he downs in one go. 


	3. chapter 3

LIVING ROOM. MID AFTERNOON. HEAVY RAIN HAMMERS AGAINST THE WINDOW. MELANIE ENTERS THE ROOM, CARRYING TWO STEAMING MUGS OF TEA. AS SHE OPENS THE DOOR, WE CAN HEAR SOPHIE AND ROWAN PLAYING VERY LOUDLY.  
  
MEL (shouting upstairs): Keep it down, you two, or else! (she turns to her husband) The kids are driving me crazy. I know I can't expect them to play out in this, but still...  
  
(TOM IS SITTING ON THE SETTEE, BIRO AND A4 PAD IN HAND. HE THROWS BOTH DOWN O THE COFFEE TABLE.)  
  
TOM: I've lost it, Mel. I can't write any more!  
  
MEL: You've been like this before. Every time you hit writers' block. It'll pass.  
  
TOM (picking up the mug that Mel has set down on the table): I never used to imagine I saw ghosts.  
  
MEL (shivering as she looks round): Is that what you think Katherine is? We're being haunted?  
  
TOM: Who knows what she is? Who knows what Kelly saw?  
  
MEL: Kelly has an over active imagination.  
  
TOM (smiling wryly): People said that about me a long time ago. I never thought I'd grow out of it, but I have. You know, when I was a kid I'd sit for hours, scribbling anything that came into my mind. I could go anywhere, be whatever I wanted to be.  
  
MEL (smiles): Sophie and Rowan love your stories.  
  
TOM: You know why I stopped telling Sophie and Rowan a bedtime story? I couldn't think of any new ones! All I've done for the last few months is re-tell the old stories. All I do now when I sit down at the computer is stare into space. The characters aren't real for me any more. I used to see them, hear their conversations, feel their emotions. Now I'm reaching and reaching but they've long gone.  
  
MEL: It'll come back, Tom  
  
TOM: I wish I could believe that. Maybe I should give up writing. I don't have it in me any more.  
  
(FROM UPSTAIRS, THERE IS SUDDENLY A LOUD SCREAM FOLLOWED BY A CRASH AND GIGGLING. SOPHIE THUDS DOWNSTAIRS AND BURSTS OPEN THE DOOR DRAMATICALLY)  
  
SOPHIE (angrily): Tell Rowan!   
  
(ANOTHER SCREAM FROM ABOVE. THEY RUN UPSTAIRS TO FIND ROWAN STANDING ON TOP OF AN OLD-FASHIONED WARDROBE. ROWAN IS VERY PROUD OF HERSELF. THERE IS NO FURNITURE NEAR THE WARDROBE AND NO CONCEIVABLE WAY SHE COULD HAVE SCALED THE HEIGHT HERSELF.)   
  
TOM: (astonished): How the hell did she get up there?  
  
ROWAN: I flied, Daddy!  
  
SOPHIE: She flied, Daddy. She won't stop flying and she knows I want to play lions and tigers now.  
  
(TOM STRETCHES TO HIS FULL HEIGHT TO LIFT ROWAN FROM THE WARDROBE. THE ROOM IS IN TOTAL CHAOS, TOYS AND PAPERS SCATTERED EVERYWHERE. AMONGST IT ALL ARE STRANGE RAINBOW-COLOURED CIRCLES THAT LOOK LIKE LARGE SMOOTH POPCORN. MELANIE IS STARING AT THEM CURIOUSLY AND PICKS SOME UP.)  
  
MEL: Tom, this stuff, it's weird...(the circles turn to water in her hand. She picks up another handful and the same thing happens)   
  
SOPHIE: We played coloured rain, Mummy. We sheltered in the spaceship and flew into space and had to fight off the Greenight People.   
  
TOM (staring at Sophie in shock): The Greenight People...?  
  
SOPHIE (nonchalantly peeling the wrapper off a bar of chocolate): They got into our spaceship and we had to leave it and fly back home by ourselves.  
  
ROWAN: And I nearly felled but the lady catched me!  
  
TOM (stooping down to his eldest daughter): Sophie, how do you know about the Greenight People?  
  
SOPHIE: Katherine told us. (takes a bite of chocolate)  
  
.  
  
TOM: I recognise that chocolate...It's from Katherine, isn't it?  
  
(SOPHIE NODS, HER MOUTH TOO FULL TO ANSWER. TOM WIPES BACK SUDDEN TEARS)  
  
TOM: Mel, I think I remember who Katherine was...  
  
*****  
  
CHILDRENS PLAYGROUND. 1960s.  
  
IT IS A COLD DAY AND THE CHILDREN ARE WEARING OUTDOOR CLOTHES. THE PLAYGROUND IS CROWDED, KIDS RUNNING AND PLAYING, BOYS PLAYING FOOTBALL AND GIRLS SKIPPING. THERE IS A HYPNOTIC CHANT TO THE SKIPPING GAME. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROPE, WEARING A TOO-LONG GREY WINTER COAT, IS A TALL THIN GIRL OF ABOUT FIFTEEN, HER BLACK HAIR, THE COAT AND THE COLD WEATHER COMBINING TO MAKE HER LOOK EXCEPTIONALLY PALE. KATHERINE.  
  
YOUNG BOY'S VOICEOVER: No-one knew much about Katherine. She was creepy somehow, like even the teachers were scared of her. She always got what she wanted, like she didn't have any friends but all the kids were too scared to say no to her so if she wanted to play skipping or something she got to play skipping and she got to stay in the rope just as long as she wanted. Anyhows, it was just a day at school as usual. 'Cept it was soooo cold all the kids wore their coats and gloves when they went to play out.   
  
Katherine, she had on this long grey coat that was so big for her it nearly touched the ground like it belonged to her Mum or something. Well, there was this kid and he thought Katherine looked stupid skipping in that big grey coat that smelled of mothballs and had torn pockets, and he started calling her names, then we all joined in, laughing and pointing. Katherine, she looked upset and started crying which made us laugh more, but we only meant as a joke. All of a sudden she jumped out the rope but she didn't see the patch of ice...  
  
(KATHERINE FALLS BACKWARDS, BANGING HER HEAD AND LYING VERY STILL, HER EYES STARING UPWARDS. THE ROPE HAS STOPPED AND CHILDREN ARE SCREAMING. TEACHERS GATHER ROUND THE BODY AS THE DAY BECOMES SHROUDED IN A NOVEMBER FOG)  
  
YOUNG BOY'S VOICEOVER: There was nothin' they could do. They sent us kids back inside the school cos of the fog and the ice and they tried to contact Katherine's Mum and Dad. But when they went to the house...  
  
(AN OLD DERELICT BUILDING COVERED IN FOG. BROKEN WINDOWS AND IVY GROWING ON THE WALLS).  
  
YOUNG BOY'S VOICEOVER: So they buried her on top of the hill next to the old haunted church with the wind howling round. But the next day one of the kids who'd been laughing at her was found dead in the lake. They said he drowned while swimming and it was an accident but nobody knew. People kept seeing Katherine's ghost and lots of scary stuff began happening that no one could explain. She wanted revenge... 


	4. chapter 4

***CHAPTER 4***  
  
(MELANIE'S SCREAMING BRINGS TOM BACK INTO THE PRESENT. THE CHILDREN'S BEDROOM IS TURNING INTO A TROPICAL JUNGLE AND THERE ARE THE NOISES OF EXOTIC BIRDS AND ANIMALS. ROWAN HAS WRIGGLED FREE FROM HER FATHER'S ARMS AND OPENED THE BEDROOM DOOR - TO A FIERCELY ROARING TIGER. CALMLY, THE CHILD CLIMBS ON THE ANIMAL'S BACK.)  
  
ROWAN (excited): Look a me, Mummy! Daddy, look at me!  
  
SOPHIE (smiling to reassure): It's okay, Mummy, don't be scared. We're only playing lions and tigers.  
  
(MELANIE REMAINS FROZEN IN TERROR, WATCHING ROWAN RIDE AROUND THE ROOM. A LION BREAKS THROUGH THE TANGLED THICKET. SOPHIE PATS ITS MANE)  
  
TOM (shouts): It's alright, Mel, it's alright!  
  
(TOM REACHES FOR HIS WIFE'S HAND AND SHE CLINGS ON. SOPHIE AND ROWAN PLAY)  
  
  
  
TOM (still needs to shout): Hang on, trust me, it's going to change...I know...  
  
(THE BEDROOM CHANGES VERY QUICKLY, SCENES BLENDING INTO EACH OTHER. THE FAMILY IS TRANSPORTED INTO EACH SCENE:  
  
SHIP ON OCEAN, PASSENGERS ON DECK IN FORMAL EVENING WEAR, SQUEALING GULLS SKIMMING WAVES, STRONG SEA BREEZES, CLOUDS SCUDDING ACROSS BLUE SKIES...  
  
TOBOGGAN RIDES, KIDS HAVING SNOWBALL FIGHTS, SNOWMEN, SHOUTING AND EXCITED CONVERSATION IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE...  
  
AN OLD-FASHIONED ARMY FIGHTING ITS WAY THROUGH HARSH LANDSCAPE, BEATING OF DRUMS, BLASTS OF GUNFIRE AND SOLDIERS SCREAMING, RED OF UNIFORMS, HORSES REARING...  
  
LULLABY MUSIC, PLEASANT WELL-KEPT GARDEN BURSTING WITH BRIGHTLY COLOURED FLOWERS, SMALL CHILDREN PLAYING, BLUE, BLUE SKY AND BLAZING SUN...  
  
WILD THUNDERSTORM, GRAVESTONES BEING TOPPLED OVER, THE DEAD CLAWING THEIR WAY THROUGH THE WET EARTH, WAILING, CRASHING THUNDER...  
  
COLOURED RAIN FROM A LIGHT GREEN SKY, PEOPLE, DRESSED IN VERY BRIGHTLY COLOURED CLOTHES THAT ARE THE STYLES OF THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, ARE RUNNING TO GET OUT OF THE RAIN. GENTLE RHYTHM OF RAIN, SWISH OF VETERAN CARS, THE NOISE AND LAUGHTER OF A FUNFAIR, IN THE DISTANCE, NEAR A STATUE, A YOUNG COUPLE, OBLIVIOUS TO THE RAIN, ARE KISSING...THE SKY TURNS A LUMINOUS GREEN AND HE RAIN STOPS FALLING LEAVING BEHIND RAINBOW PUDDLES...  
  
...THE GIRL TURNS FROM HER SWEETHEART...   
  
...IT IS KATHERINE, LOOKING PRETTY AND HAPPY. SHE WEARS AN EMERALD GREEN DRESS AND A GREEN RIBBON TIES BACK HER RAVEN HAIR. AS SHE WALKS TOWARDS TOM, THE CROWDS AND NOISE FADE. THERE IS NO JUNGLE, NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY, ALL THAT IS LEFT IS THE CHILDREN'S BEDROOM AS IT USUALLY IS. SLOWLY KATHERINE COMES CLOSER AND TOM WALKS TOWARDS HER. MELANIE GATHERS THE CHILDREN - WHO ARE MERELY CURIOUS - IN HER ARMS)  
  
MELANIE (slowly, in shock): Omigod, omigod, omigod...  
  
TOM (emotionally): Katherine!  
  
(TOM AND KATHERINE EMBRACE BRIEFLY. THEY BREAK FREE, STILL HOLDING ON TO EACH OTHER'S HANDS)  
  
TOM: I remember! I was nine years old and at a sleepover with friends. It was Hallowe'en so we were all telling each other ghost stories, trying to scare the hell out of each other...  
  
KATHERINE: I was the first proper story you ever told, the first proper character you ever created...  
  
TOM: But you were so real...  
  
KATHERINE: ...I gave you nightmares so you had to make me less frightening so you...  
  
TOM: ...invented the Greenight people and a fairground and multi-coloured rain and a Katherine who made Greenight chocolate, which was a taste of every chocolate in the world all at once!  
  
KATHERINE: Then you moved on to other stories and forgot about me - but I live still. All of us do, every character, every story ever created! Sometimes we're not so strong, sometimes we stay as fleeting grey shadows...other times we breathe your air, share your sunlight, you cry our tears, laugh with us, know our pain and our joy...Tom, you can be anyone, go anywhere in imagination! Be a child again. Don't question, it is, keep reaching and reaching into those dreams, reaching and reaching into imagination...   
  
(KATHERINE FADES AWAY INTO A WORLD OF MISTY GREY SHAPES OF MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN. THEN THE MIST LIFTS, THE SHAPES BECOME PEOPLE AND THE WINTRY TREES BECOME COVERED IN LEAVES AND BLOSSOM.  
  
TOM AND MELANIE ARE BOTH CRYING. SOPHIE LOOKS CURIOUS AS HER PARENTS HUG. ROWAN HAS LOST INTEREST AND IS TALKING AWAY TO HERSELF IN A GAME WITH SOME DOLLS AND THE BELOVED PLASTIC SPIDER)  
  
SOPHIE: Why are you crying? What's wrong? Katherine was nice.  
  
MELANIE (wiping away a tear): Nothing. It's getting late. Maybe it's time for you two to have your supper and get ready for bed.  
  
ROWAN (turning): Daddy, if I'm good an' drink ALL my hot milk will you tell me a story?  
  
****   
  
ON THE LANDING, THROUGH THE OPEN DOOR, ROD STERLING TURNS TO THE VIEWER, SMILING.  
  
ROD STERLING: Tell me a story! Who knows what imagination is? Who knows what becomes of those imaginary people once the author has finished with the story? (HE UNWRAPS A BAR OF GREENIGHT CHOCOLATE) Leaving them to live on forever - in the Twilight Zone!  
  
*****************************************************************************  
  
Hope you enjoyed reading! I was picturing it all as I would see it on TV and don't think it transferred on to paper very well. I just put a floppy disk in my PC and re-read those lines that were mysteriously added to the (definitely non-twilight-zoney) story that gave me this idea in the first place - and it still baffles me tho it no longer freaks me out like it did for some time afterwards. Where did those words come from? I hadn't been drinking, don't do drugs, wasn't exceptionally tired...so the only logical answer has to be...my imagination... 


End file.
